


Not Today (A BTS Zombie Apocalypse AU)

by SaintAndHero



Category: K-pop, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Action/Adventure, Boyband, F/M, Fanfiction, Gen, K-pop References, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:02:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24071851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaintAndHero/pseuds/SaintAndHero
Summary: The BTS are splitting apart! The global phenomenon of BTS has come to an end over creative differences. They have come to the USA to perform one last show. But they are trapped in USA in a Zombie apocalypse. Will they survive this twist in their fate? Will they emerge out of this catastrophe, stronger and united than ever?
Relationships: Kim Namjoon | RM/Kim Taehyung | V, Kim Taehyung | V/Park Jimin, Park Jimin (BTS) & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

RM ran through the aisles of Walmart, knocking down the goods off the shelves, his heart racing in his chest. His leg was bleeding, leaving a trail of blood in its path. He waited a second to catch his breath and look behind. Behind him, a horde zombies with rotten teeth and gouged eyes were hurtling towards him, their gnarly hands extended as if to embrace him in a kiss of death.   
RM gulped and looked for an exit. There was none. He saw a door leading upstairs. He raced to the stairs and bolted the glass door. The zombies crowded around the narrow glass door and started banging their hands and heads on it.   
RM ran up the stairs, to the upper floor of the mall. He had bought himself some time.   
RM walked to the counter to catch his breath. His knees buckled in exhaustion and he started sobbing. What had happened to him? What was going on in this world?  
A nearby TV showed BTS' final performance in Los Angeles. It was their last show as BTS, before they were splitting apart. The entire band bowed on the stage on last time...  
That was just hours ago!  
'What the hell happened?' RM wondered.  
Suddenly, there was a rattle near one of the aisles.  
RM instinctively ducked and hid behind the counter. It must be another zombie.  
'So this is how I'm supposed to die...' RM wondered, battered and bloodied.  
He was about to give up when he heard a voice.  
'RM? Is that you?' a familiar voice sounded.  
RM looked over the counter.   
'Jimin!' RM shouted, glad to see a familiar face.  
Jimin's face had drained out of colour. He ran and joined RM behind the billing counter.  
'What the hell is happening?' Jimin asked.  
'I have no clue' RM said.  
At that moment, the zombies smashed the glass door beneath and started hurtling towards them.  
Their vicious snarls grew louder as they staggered up the stairs.   
'What do we do!' Jimin asked frantically.  
'I don't know, Jimin. I don't know...' RM said. He seemed to have given up.  
The past few days had been hell for RM. The band was splitting up. The media had ridiculed BTS to no end. Everything that RM had wanted all these years, had crumbled to dust, and now this zombie apocalypse...   
The zombies finally landed on their floor, tumbling upon one another, smelling raw blood and flesh.   
'I guess I'm done...' RM said, with a tone of resignation.  
'If this is how I'm going to die... So be it' he said.


	2. A Zombie-infested Walmart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> RM and Jimin are struggling to fight their way out of a zombie-infested Walmart in Downtown LA. How long will they survive?

‘Get up!’ Jimin shook RM out of his stupor.  
‘We NEED to get out of here!’ Jimin dragged RM.  
RM looked at the zombies tumbling over one another to get to them. He realised that if they didn’t run, they would soon be joining their horde to be mindless, flesh-eating creatures. His survival instinct kicked in and he leapt to his feet.  
‘Let’s get out of here’ RM said, his voice resolute.  
Jimin and RM ran through the rows of aisles, dropping goods in their way to block their path. Kleenex, cereal and diapers now lay strewn on the floor to block the zombies’ path. They went to the far end to the kids’ toys section.   
‘What do we do now?’ Jimin asked frantically.  
RM looked around. There was a window on the side. A fire escape was visible through the glass.   
‘There’s a window over there!’  
Both rushed to the window and tried to open it with their bare hands. But the window was bolted shut. Jimin gulped. The zombies were making their way towards them, hissing and drooling, as if yearning to taste their flesh.  
RM saw a sign that said ‘Baseball bats for $9.99’   
RM rushed to the aisle and picked up two baseball bats.   
‘Here!’ he threw one to Jimin. Jimin caught it.   
‘You open the window! I’ll try to hold them off!’ RM said.  
Jimin began hitting the glass with renewed energy. RM held his baseball bat tight in his hand. All the years of being a dancer had made him quite wiry and strong. He knew that he was no match for the oncoming zombies but he could try to hold them till Jimin smashed the window. A couple of zombies were already ahead of the group, making their way towards RM.  
RM’s heart fluttered in his chest as the first zombie came to him, baring its rotten teeth.   
RM swung the baseball bat towards the zombies’ face, and flesh and blood squelched out of the zombies’ head, and it lay down dead. The next zombie hesitated a bit, and started approaching RM.  
RM swung again, hitting the zombie on its chest, and then hitting it squarely in the forehead. The zombie lay on the ground, lifeless. The horde of zombies started coming towards RM, knocking down aisles of goods as they moved towards him.   
Suddenly, there was the sound of glass shattering. RM looked behind. Jimin had successfully smashed the window.   
‘Quick!’ Jimin said as he got out of the window.   
RM ran towards the shattered window, crunching glass beneath his shoes as he lowered himself onto the fire escape, holding his bat in one hand. Blood was still dripping from his right leg. Thankfully, they were just one storey off ground. They successfully crawled down the fire escape. RM heaved a sigh of relief as his legs touched solid ground.   
‘What do we do now?’ Jimin asked looking around.  
There was a group of zombies down the road, but they hadn’t noticed the duo yet.  
‘My car is over there, in the parking lot’ RM said pointing to a Grey Land Rover SUV.  
‘We need to make a run for it’ he said.  
‘Alright.’ Jimin said.  
RM breathed in deeply and tried to block the pain searing from his leg.   
‘Let’s go!’ he shouted and they both ran towards the car in the parking lot.   
The zombies had taken notice of them by now. The horde of zombies on the first floor was snarling and waving their hands out of the window. Some even toppled out of the window and onto the ground.   
‘Where are the keys?’ Jimin shouted.   
RM took out the keys from his pocket. His hands were shaking, and he accidentally dropped the keys. The keys slid beneath the car. The horde of zombies was now approaching them with a renewed vigour.   
‘Fuck! I dropped the keys!’ RM shouted.   
‘Oh God! Hurry up! They’re almost here!’ Jimin shouted back. He took position to hit the zombies with his baseball bat.  
RM bent down and slid his hand under the car. He could feel the cold steel of the keys and dragged them from underneath the car. The zombies were just behind them.   
RM unlocked the car, and they both jumped in. The zombies narrowly missed them and started banging on the glass windows.  
RM started the ignition.  
‘Go! Go! Go!’ Jimin hollered.  
RM backed the car into reverse, and then, pushed the pedal to the floor. The car lurched forward and sped. He didn’t slow down at the gate, and the SUV smashed the gates and zoomed past. They had escaped out of Walmart!   
Jimin finally heaved a sigh of relief.  
‘What the hell was that!’ he said.  
‘I have no clue.’   
They drove through downtown LA. All around them, they could see zombies feasting on human bodies. Intestines and brains were strewn around. The zombies looked up from their bloody feasting as the Land Rover zoomed past them. Other zombies were moving around listlessly, searching for new prey.  
‘My God…’ whispered RM.  
‘Let’s go to the airport. Let’s get out of this goddamn country.’ Jimin said.   
‘What about the others?’ RM said.  
‘I don’t know, RM. Should we risk our lives for them… after what happened at the concert?’ Jimin asked.  
RM looked at Jimin.  
‘This is beyond anything that happened back there. They are our bandmates, our brothers. We can’t leave them behind.’  
They rode silently for a minute. They could see their hotel, Four Seasons, in the distance, on the right.  
‘We’re going to get the rest of BTS.’ RM said and swerved the SUV towards the right.   
The world was ending, but they were not leaving their friends, their bandmates. The lyrics ‘No... Not Today’ popped into RM’s head. They seemed very ironic right now.


	3. The Hotel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> RM and Jimin go to the hotel to save the rest of the BTS members, but things don't go as expected...

RM and Jimin could see Hotel Four Seasons down the road. RM stopped the car a block ahead of the hotel and scanned the place. The towering 30-storey hotel stood in full view.   
One of the most expensive hotels in LA, Four Seasons provided an extravagantly luxurious experience to its visitors. Providing every amenity that a guest could possibly imagine, from a VR-simulated Thai Spa treatment to a crystal swimming pool on the terrace, to a shooting club to blow off steam, Four Seasons was considered to be the best in the business.   
The hotel chain had hotels in nearly every metropolitan in the world, and the BTS would usually stay in Four Seasons in whichever city they were on tour. But like every other place in LA, this place too seemed to have been affected by the infestation. Near the entry of the hotel, zombies were lurking around aimlessly.   
‘Damn. The hotel is infested with zombies…’ RM said.  
‘Namjoon, I hate to say this, the others might have not made it, but we still can…’ Jimin reminded.  
RM looked at the hotel. What Jimin said made sense. But RM was not going to leave a single BTS member behind, even if it meant risking his own life. He believed in the silly quote from The Three Musketeers ‘All for one, one for all!’ He took out his phone. Cellular reception had been down since the catastrophe had begun.  
‘Damn it!’ RM cursed.  
‘Wait! I’m getting some signal now!’ he exclaimed.  
‘Quickly! Call them!’ Jimin said.  
RM called J-Hope. The call went through after a couple of minutes. J-Hope picked up at the second ring.   
‘Hello?’ J-Hope’s voice sounded worried from the other end.  
‘Jung, where are you? Where is the rest of the band?’ RM asked.  
‘We are stuck inside the hotel in Room 903. There are three of us here. Please get us out of here!’ J-Hope voice was shaky.  
‘Okay. We’re coming for you. Don’t worry.’ RM said.  
‘We… Are…’ J-Hope’s voice was cutting, and finally, the call cut off.   
‘Shit.’ RM muttered and looked at his phone. There was no network anymore.   
‘J-Hope and two more are stuck inside Room 903 in the hotel. We need to get them.’ RM said.  
‘Going in there is suicide’ Jimin said seriously.  
‘I know. But we can’t leave them behind’ RM said and put the car into gear.  
RM drove the car as close to the hotel as possible to scout the place. They looked inside the hotel through the glass doors. Jimin was right. Everywhere, from the hotel entrance to the giant reception desk, the place was infested with zombies. Going in there through the main entrance was suicide.  
‘I have an idea.’ RM said.  
‘What…’ Before Jimin could complete his sentence, RM floored the pedal and sped towards the hotel.  
‘What are you doing!’ Jimin shouted.  
RM took a left from the hotel. The zombies had taken notice by now and had started following the SUV. RM took the SUV down into the basement parking lot.  
‘We get into the elevator through the parking, and get to the ninth floor’ RM said.  
‘That’s a good idea!’ Jimin said. ‘But there is one problem. The zombies have noticed us.’  
A group of zombies was walking down the slope into the parking, hungry to devour their fresh prey.  
‘Shit! Run for the elevator!’ RM shouted.   
Both of them grabbed their baseball bats and ran to the elevator. Thankfully, the elevator was functional, but it was on the 20th floor. Jimin frantically pushed the button to call the elevator. It started coming down from the 20th floor.  
The zombies walked into the basement, almost smiling as if they had finally found a new meal. They had them cornered.  
‘They’re coming.’ RM said.  
The elevator chimed its way down the floor, taking its own sweet time.   
‘Why the hell is the elevator always slow when we need it the most?’ Jimin shouted frustrated.  
‘Fuck this.’ RM said as a zombie lurched towards them. He swung his bat hit the zombie in its face and killed it. The elevator finally landed on their floor and slid open. Both of them rushed in and closed the door.   
But a zombie pushed a hand inside the elevator, and the doors opened again, trying to let their new ‘visitor’ in. RM kicked the zombie in its rotten stomach, and it fell back, taking two zombies down with it. The elevator door finally closed. Jimin punched the button to the 9th floor. The elevator hummed as it climbed up the floors. The door finally opened at the 9th floor. Thankfully there was just one zombie at the far end. It hadn’t taken notice of them yet. Both of them rushed to Room 903 and knocked frantically.  
‘Who is it?’ a voice sounded from within.  
‘It’s us! Namjoon and Jimin! Open up!’ Jimin whispered, careful as to not get the zombies’ attention.  
The door opened and J-Hope’s face came up.  
‘Quick. Get in’ he said, relieved to see his two friends. The duo walked inside. J-Hope took one last look in the corridor and closed the door behind them. Jimin and RM breathed a sigh of relief. Never had they felt more relieved to see their band members.  
The other members crowded around them. There was J-Hope, Suga and Hae, an 18-year old girl.  
Hae was from Seoul and was a production assistant on their live shows. She was of medium height, had blue eyes and wavy black hair. She used to hang out with the band members. She had joined BTS as an intern, but she quickly rose to the post of production assistant due to her good management skills. Hae hugged RM and Jimin tightly.  
‘Oh God!’ she cried. ‘We’re going to die here!’  
RM hugged her tight.   
‘It’s okay. We are alive.’ RM said, coaxing her.   
‘Where are the rest of the crew and band members?’ Jimin asked Suga.  
‘We saw them at the show last night. After that, we parted ways. Some of the crew had taken the flight to Seoul late last night. I don’t know about the rest.’  
‘What about V, Jungkook and Jin?’ RM asked.  
Suga nodded his head slightly. ‘I tried calling them. The network is down… They might not have made it.’  
RM knew that their lives were in real danger now, and they needed to act fast and quick. He needed to take the lead.  
‘Okay, everyone, sit here.’ RM ordered.  
Everyone sat on the bed facing RM. RM kept standing.  
‘Los Angeles seemed to have been struck by a catastrophe. Jimin and I were nearly killed by these zombies at Walmart. They are everywhere. Even our hotel is crawling with them. So, make no mistake, our very lives are in danger here. We need to get out of here, out of this country, but the slightest mistake can kill us all. So, we have to act as a team and survive this pandemic. Do you understand?’  
‘알겠습니다 (Yes sir)!’ they said in unison.  
And at that moment, silhouetted by the light, Rap Monster Namjoon looked like a true leader. BTS was back in action, but this time, it was to save their own lives…


	4. New leads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The band finds out some new information related to the outbreak. But will it be enough for them to survive?

'Okay. So, we need to make a checklist of the things we need to do.' RM said.

There was a whiteboard on wheels at the far end of the room. RM wheeled it in front of the rest of the members and started writing on it with a black marker. This was one curious little trait that RM possessed since childhood. He used to make notes about everything.

'Lunch: 2:00 pm; Dance practice: 3:00 pm; Recording session, 4:00 pm.' His To-Do list would say.

He wrote on the board:

'Information we have till now:'

'Alright, what do we know about this outbreak?' RM asked.

'Pretty much nothing' Suga said.

'Most of us were so tired by the end of the tour that we slept early. We slept for quite long. When we woke up, the infestation had begun' he said.

'Okay.' RM said and turned on the TV.

The screen was filled with grainy dots. There was no signal. RM switched to different channels but no luck. Finally, there was some flickering on the screen for a local news channel.

'Wait!' Jimin said.

The screen flickered and the anchor could be heard in spasms.

'A deadly virus... Infestation... A possible biological weapon unleashed by the Middle East... Extraction is underway... Camp for Los Angeles...'

A number was displayed on the screen. RM quickly noted down the number and the address of the safety camp. The screen finally flickered and died. The words 'NO SIGNAL' were displayed on the screen.

'Okay. That's a start.' RM said.

'Now we know that a biological weapon has been unleashed by the Middle East on USA, and these zombies are a product of that.'

'My God...' Hae muttered and clutched Jimin's shoulder tightly.

'Now our primary goal is to reach the safety camp. But it is out of the city. So, we need transport for that. I have my SUV in the parking lot, but the place is most probably crawling with zombies right now.' RM said.

'We can get some weapons?' Jimin said.

'How?' RM asked.

'The hotel has a shooting club. They need to have weapons in the armoury' he said.

'Weapons...' RM wrote on the whiteboard.

'But how do we get into the armoury? It is on the 12th floor and it is supposed to be locked, right?' J-Hope asked.

The room fell silent for a while as everyone thought of a solution.

'Room service!' Hae exclaimed.

'What?' RM asked.

'The room service staff is supposed to have a master key to all rooms. Maybe it might open the armoury too?' Hae suggested.

'I thought I saw a room service cart in the corridor' J-Hope said.

Without saying anything, RM went to the door. He unbolted the door and quickly peeked out.

'We're in luck' he looked back and said. He slid out of the room, quiet as a cat. He emerged in the room a minute later wheeling a golden red room service cart, matching with the colour palette of the hotel carpet.

'Let's see what's in the cart' RM said.

They all knelt around the cart. There were fresh towels, bed sheets, room fresheners on the top tray. Beneath the first tray, there was another. It had a key, with a keychain saying 'Master Key'.

'Yes!' Suga exclaimed. 'Now we can go to the armoury and retrieve some weapons!'

'Yes' RM said.

'Alright peeps. We need to pack up. Limit your stuff to just one bag each. Take your passports, food, water and medicines. We meet here in 10 minutes and then we raid the armoury to get whatever weapons we can.' RM said.


	5. The Armoury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The BTS reach the armoury and stack up on weapons for their self-defence. But will they be able to defend themselves forever?

Everyone got up and started packing their luggage. RM found some nails and a hammer in the service cart. He hammered the nails into his baseball bat. The bat looked lethal enough to kill a zombie with one blow.   
Jimin packed his katana from the Not Today performance. Thanks to the extensive training for the dance video of Not Today that comprised of ninjas and swords, Jimin had become quite good in sword-fighting. The skill would be a life-saver now. Ten minutes later, they were all packed and ready to leave.  
J-Hope was carrying a guitar case with him as well.  
‘Whoa! What is this?’ Suga asked.  
‘This is my MJ guitar. I’m sorry I can’t leave it behind.’ J-Hope said.  
When J-Hope was 10 years old, he had gone to a Michael Jackson live concert with his guitar. J-Hope was lucky enough to have Michael Jackson sign on his guitar. That day, young J-Hope had decided that he would pursue music as a career.  
‘Fine. But you’ll carry it, no one else.’ Suga said.  
‘Okay!’ J-Hope agreed.  
They opened the door. RM gave one last look to the room and closed it behind him. Thankfully the zombie at the far end still didn’t take notice of them as they called the elevator and reached the 12th floor without any incidence. But the moment the elevator slid open, there were two zombies waiting for them.  
‘Raawwr!’ the zombies snarled as they waved their hands to grab them.  
‘Aah!’ Hae screamed.   
The BTS members flinched, but Jimin stepped forward and pierced his sword into the eye socket of one zombie. Flesh squelched as the katana sliced through the skull like butter. With one swift move, Jimin decapitated the other zombie. Both the zombie collapsed down, lifeless.   
‘Damn that’s cool!’ J-Hope said as Jimin wiped the sword and slid it back into its scabbard.  
They read the directions in the corridor and stealthily made their way towards the armoury. Finally, they reached the armoury. RM fit the master key in the lock.  
‘Come on…’ he muttered nervously as he turned the key. The lock clicked open.  
‘Yes!’ Suga whispered.  
They went inside the armoury and turned on the lights. When the lights came on, they saw weapons of all kinds, stacked neatly in glass cabinets in front of them. The armoury was an arms dealer’s wet dream. There were pistols, semi-automatic and automatic rifles their metallic finish gleaming in the overhead lights.   
‘We’re in luck. Stock up, guys!’ RM said.  
They stocked up on pistols, ammunition, grenades and flares in their bags.  
Hae had been professionally trained to handle rifles in her school, so she chose an M4A1 automatic rifle. Suga and J-Hope had some basic knowledge about firearms, so they chose .45 ACP Colt guns. RM and Jimin had no knowledge of handling firearms. So they stuck to their weapons of choice: The nail-crested baseball bat and the katana respectively.   
As they walked out of the armoury, the BTS were not the cool-bunch of singers and dancers that had checked into the hotel some days ago. They were warriors; a bunch of ravages who relied on their primal instincts to survive: Including kill anyone who came in their way.


	6. The parking lot massacre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The BTS are cornered by zombies as they try to leave the hotel. Will they survive?

Armed with weapons, the BTS were ready to leave the hotel and reach the extraction camp outside Los Angeles. But the bigger challenge at the moment was to get into the car in the basement parking lot. RM assumed that the parking would be crawling with zombies by now. They needed a tight game plan to get out of there.  
‘Alright, guys, the car is on the far right corner of the parking lot. We need to have a plan to reach to it.’ RM said.  
‘We will stay in a tight circular formation. Hae, you have the rifle, you’ll stay in the front. Suga and J-Hope, you have the guns, so you will cover the back, Jimin and I will cover the sides with our makeshift weapons’ he said.  
‘Aye, sir’ Suga said.  
RM pressed the elevator button. The elevator slid open. The BTS got into the elevator once again. The confined space seemed a little crowded with their luggage bags and weapons. J-Hope even had his MJ guitar case.  
‘I hope the luggage doesn’t weigh us down’ Jimin remarked.  
As the elevator approached the basement, they could hear the ominous voices of zombies snarling and roaring.  
‘Stay sharp guys’ RM said.  
Hae unloaded the magazine of her rifle and made sure that it was full. She pushed it back in and unlocked the safety pin of the rifle. Suga and J-Hope clicked open the safety pins on their guns. They were all locked and loaded.  
‘Alright, here goes’ Suga said as the elevator doors slid open.  
The place looked like a giant meet-up of zombies. There were scores of zombies, moving listlessly around searching for new prey. For a moment, the BTS members just stood there, shell-shocked by the sheer number of zombies.  
Suddenly, one of the zombies looked at them and started walking towards them, arms flailing with renewed vigour. The other zombies took note, and suddenly, all of them started funnelling towards the elevator. The BTS still stayed rooted numbed by the fact that they were cornered by tens of zombies.  
Then in a split second, Hae opened fire with her rifle. The static sound of the rifle was deafening, and there was a huge echo in the basement. Hae’s shoulder jerked back from the recoil of the rifle. She missed her target by a long shot, and the bullet flew past the head of the zombie.   
‘Ah!’ she winced.  
The static blast of the rifle seemed to have woken everyone from their stupor. Hae shot again, shooting a zombie straight in the head. The zombie flew back with momentum, its head looking like a pulp of Jell-O.  
‘Hurry!’ RM said, and they made their way out of the elevator.   
The zombies started approaching them a little cautiously now.   
‘Stick to your formation!’ Jimin hollered over the snarls of the zombies. The BTS made a circular formation, covering all sides. The zombies too had formed a rough circle around them, waiting to devour them, but at the same time too scared to make a move. The bunch moved ahead slowly. The zombies backed out of fear.  
Then suddenly, one zombie broke formation and lunged at Suga. Suga instinctively shot at the zombie, and the zombie thudded to the ground. The other zombies panicked and broke their formation, and lurched towards the group.   
‘Attack!’ RM shouted.  
They launched a full-frontal assault on the zombies. Hae was in the lead, so she started shooting at the zombies in the front. The floor was soon strewn with the leftovers of zombie flesh as bullets punctured them.  
J-Hope and Suga started shooting at zombies at the back, taking them out one bullet at a time.  
RM was expertly hitting home runs with his nail-crested baseball bat, and Jimin decapitated half a dozen zombies with his Not Today katana.  
They thought they were making progress, but they soon saw hordes of fresh zombies lurching down the slope into the parking lot. They were blocking their passage to the car.  
‘Shit! The sound must’ve attracted them!’ RM said.   
The basement was now nearly packed with zombies. The BTS had been cornered. There was no way out. RM looked around him. Each one of them was valiantly fighting the zombies, like solders who would not give up in the battlefield until their last breath. But RM had mentally given up. He had submitted to the fact that this is how they were fated to die: in a decrepit basement in an unknown country crawling with zombies. Soon they would become a part of this mindless, flesh-eating horde.  
J-Hope looked at RM. He seemed to have given up. But J-Hope was not letting BTS die in here. He had already killed BTS once. The group had not fallen apart because of creative differences. J-Hope had betrayed BTS to become a part of a rival K-Pop band. Greed and hunger for fame had taken over him. Soon, all the BTS members had left the band one-by-one. He was the reason why BTS had fallen apart, and he regretted it the moment he left the group. But in this moment, he realised that the people fighting around him were his true family and he would do anything to save his family… Anything.  
‘There’s too many of them. We need a diversion’ J-Hope shouted.   
He took off his luggage bag and MJ guitar case. He handed the guitar case to RM and said ‘Don’t let go of this. Ever.’  
Before RM could protest, J-Hope took out a red flare from his pocket. He lit the red flare and the basement was momentarily blinded in a flash of scarlet light.   
‘What the hell!’ Suga screamed.  
‘I’ll create a diversion. You guys head for the car’ J-Hope said. There was an eerie calmness in his voice, as if he knew exactly what he was doing.   
‘You can’t! You’ll die, Jung!’ Jimin said.  
‘Get the car and come and get me’ J-Hope said.  
‘I love you guys’ J-Hope smiled and walked into the sea of zombies, holding the red flare high above his head and his pistol in the other hand. The zombies followed him like a moth attracted to a beacon of light. J-Hope started shooting the zombies one by one. There was a clear pathway for the rest of them. They ran to the car.   
The shooting continued as RM unlocked the car. They quickly dumped their gear and huddled inside the car as RM took the wheel. As he started the car the shooting suddenly stopped. The red flare had burnt out. RM could see J-Hope give his cute sideways smile. RM wanted nothing more to get out of the car and hug Jung. As if reading RM’s mind, J-Hope gave a nod of dismissal. They needed to leave without him.   
‘Hurry!’ Hae shouted.  
RM broke out of his stupor and floored the pedal. The car lurched forward and headed towards J-Hope. The zombies took no notice of them. They were bent over the lifeless body of J-Hope, their faces smeared with fresh blood.  
‘Come on. It’s too late…’ Jimin said silently.  
RM drove out of the parking lot. The BTS were too stunned to speak anything. Jung Ho-Seok was gone forever, and he had sacrificed his life to save the others…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note: Hey peeps! How did you find the story till now? Let me know your thoughts. Your feedback means a lot to me. Please leave your kudos and comments down below :)


	7. Heal the World

The BTS drove through the wasteland of LA for a while. They were too shocked to speak anything. Jung Ho-Seok, their dear friend, was gone forever, and they could do nothing to bring him back. It was in that moment that they realised the gravity of the situation and how vulnerable they were to the zombie attacks. The zombies would kill anyone without any thought or prejudice.  
The sun was sinking down the horizon as they made their way to the highway. On both sides, green pastures flew by on the outskirts of LA. The extraction camp was still at least 5 hours away.  
‘I think we should camp for the night’ Jimin suggested.  
‘It’s too risky’ RM said.  
‘It’s even riskier to drive through the night. We don’t know what’s out there. What if our car breaks down? We’d be sitting ducks’ Suga said.  
They drove in silence for a while. Hae was just looking out of the window, her face impassive. Everyone seemed to be numb. Fields fleeted past them as they sped on the freeway. They would occasionally spot a car parked on the side of the freeway, its owners nowhere to be seen, presumably fallen prey to the zombies.  
‘Fine’ RM relented. ‘Look for a house.’  
They drove for a while when Jimin exclaimed ‘I see a house!’  
Looming in the distance was a two-storey house in the middle of a field. It was on the far left of the freeway. It grew larger as they approached it. RM took a left onto a dusty trail. The tires crunched on stone and gravel as they made their way to the house.  
‘Let’s do a roundabout to see if anyone’s there’ Hae suggested.  
RM didn’t stop the car and drove it around the house. It was a classic 20th-century American farmer’s house. It had a wooden build with a roof that badly needed repairing. The back of the house was connected to a shed that housed an old tractor. There was a well on the side of the house and a small field adjacent to the house that was used for farming.  
‘Looks abandoned’ Suga concluded. RM finally parked the car in front of the house.  
All of them got out of the car with their weapons. They looked like a bunch of ravages, their appearance bloodied and battered. They opened the door silently made their way inside the house. The wooden floorboard creaked as they walked. They scouted both the floors of the house, but there were no inhabitants. The house was desolate, their owners lost like smoke in the air.  
‘They must’ve left to investigate the outcry, and must’ve never come back’ Jimin said.  
Convinced that they were alone, the BTS brought their luggage into the house. Thankfully, the bathroom still had running water. They took turns to shower and freshen up. Suga brought some wood from the backyard and lit the furnace in the living room. They wore fresh clothes and sat down in the living room, basking in the warm glow of the fire.  
They opened some canned food and Snickers. They ate in silence, watching the wood crackling and burning.  
‘Jung sacrificed his life to save us’ RM broke the silence.  
‘He was the bravest of us’ Jimin said.  
‘I knew him since he was 8. We took dancing lessons together. We used to talk about our crushes and how we were never able to get their attention’ RM said.  
‘Michael Jackson was his idol. He would geek about MJ forever! MJ was the reason why Jung took up dancing and singing in the first place’ Suga said.  
‘I know. He would practice on his MJ guitar for hours and hours’ RM said.  
There was a brief silence. Jimin looked at Jung’s MJ guitar case lying with the other luggage. He got up and brought the guitar out. There it was, a polished brown Fender acoustic guitar. On it, with a bold black marker was the signature of the great Michael Jackson and a note saying, ‘Make good use of this guitar, Jung Ho-Seok!’ And good use he did…  
Jimin sat in front of the fire again and tuned the guitar. He strummed the strings with his finger to a chord, and a melody emerged, shattering the silence of the room and filling it with a musical positivity.  
‘Heal the World… Jung loved this song by MJ’ Jimin said and started playing the chords on the guitar. Jimin sung in his soulful voice.

‘There's a place in your heart

And I know that it is love

And this place could be much

Brighter than tomorrow’

Everyone joined in the chorus…

‘Heal the world

Make it a better place

For you and for me

And the entire human race

There are people dying

If you care enough for the living

Make it a better place

For you and for me…’

Everyone let their emotions loose as they sang. They cried, mourned and sang in their soulful voices… They sang for their lost friend, they sang for themselves, they sang for the dying world… In that moment, they were one as BTS again. There were no cameras, no audiences to cheer and applaud them. It was just them and their music.

‘Jung will be with us forever’ Jimin said, as the song ended. The fire in the furnace finally died out, leaving smoking embers of wood.


End file.
